The Federal Government

Almost 30 years have passed since the last public debate on food marketing aimed at children. In1977, two nonprofit organizations, Action for Children’s Television and the Center for Science in thePublic Interest, petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to halt television commercials forcandy and sugary snack foods directed at young children. That triggered an in-depth and controversialFTC examination of the issue.In 1978 the FTC

issued a staff report that concluded that “television advertising for any productdirected to children who are too young to appreciate the selling purpose of, or otherwise comprehendor evaluate, the advertising is inherently unfair and deceptive.” They wrote that “it is hard to envisionany remedy short of a ban adequate to cure this inherent unfairness and deceptiveness.”The FTC commenced a public hearing on the issue and invited comments on its staff’s proposal to banall (not just junk-food) television advertising aimed at young children, ban commercials for sugarysnack foods aimed at older children, and other measures. The FTC also asked the public to commenton other approaches, such as requiring health information within ads, restrictions on the techniquesused to advertise to young children, and restricting the number of commercials directed at youngchildren.Broadcasters, ad agencies, and food and toy companies vehemently opposed the FTC’s proceedings.They worked to stop the FTC from holding hearings, lobbied Congress to prevent the FTC from usingits funding to address children’s television, and filed a lawsuit against the Commission. Advertisersalso began a voluntary effort to improve food advertising. Although the FTC did hold hearings, beforeit could act Congress passed the cynically named Federal Trade Commission Improvements Act of 1980 that barred the FTC from issuing industry-wide regulations to stop unfair advertising practices.As a result, the FTC now regulates advertising aimed at children only on a case-by-case basis.In 1981, the FTC acknowledged that “child-oriented television advertising is a legitimate cause forpublic concern” because young children do not understand the persuasive intent of advertising andindiscriminately trust ads. But the FTC concluded that “the only effective remedy would be a ban onall advertisements oriented toward young children, and such a ban, as a practical matter, cannot beimplemented,” because then there would be no way to fund children’s television programs. With that,the FTC’s bold initiative to regulate children’s television advertising sputtered to an end.One gauge of the times is the FTC’s posture when it (together with the Department of Health andHuman Services) held a 2005 workshop on marketing practices that might promote obesity in children.FTC chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras reassured industry by announcing at the beginning of theworkshop that the FTC would not take any regulatory action related to such marketing and stating that“a government ban on children’s food advertising is neither wise nor viable.”